The End of Solitude is a collection of over 40 essays written over a number of years by William Deresiewicz. The author is a Columbia University graduate and former professor at Yale University. Several of the most engaging essays are about social media and its effects on modern society. The essays on art were also interesting.

Some of this book was a struggle to read. I lost count of the number of times the author used the word elite (and also the number of times I rolled my eyes.) His tone was often off-putting. Perhaps he “reads” better in a classroom where you might have an opportunity to discuss or argue certain points. I also did not have the needed context for some of his brief passing references to philosophers and works of literature. While this book was difficult for me to stick with as a cover to cover read, there was much food for further thought. ( )

2022 book #63. 2022. A series of essays on the death of liberal education, intellectuals and why he moved from NYC to Portland OR. Pretty interesting and thought provoking. I got it free from @LibraryThing .

I received this book from LibraryThing.com in return for an unbiased review.

I'll confess that I'd never heard of William Deresiewicz before requesting this book from LibraryThing but the description of the book sounded interesting. I'm glad I read it.

Deresiewicz is a former teacher at Yale and is currently a writer, writing books of criticism and articles for many popular magazines (although they are popular, I mostly don't read them or I'd probably be more familiar with him).

These are essays written between 2009 and the present, presented in roughly chronological order although grouped by subject matter.

He starts off writing of his college teaching days and why he doesn't teach anymore. He has serious issues with the current state of college level education, particularly with the decline in the perceived value of a liberal arts education. He thinks education should be more than just training to get a technical job. I don't disagree with this although I went to an engineering school with the plan to get a technical job.

The middle section of the book is about various Jewish intellectuals most of whom I don't know. I'm afraid I skipped over most of this section.

The last section was more autobiographical, about him being Jewish, although not practicing. How he mostly grew up as New York Jew and how he came to live in Portland OR. Some good insights here. I also can relate somewhat. I grew up in a big eastern city and now live in Houston TX. An alien in a strange land.

I recommend this to anyone who would like interesting opinions on a variety of subjects written in a intelligent manner. ( )

It was fun to read different essays on the same topic but with a different angle each time. Very thought provoking and academic. Made we nostalgic for my college days. ( )

A collection of essays on everything from entertainment to hipsters to fine arts to higher education/the author's own experience as a professor. A goodly portion of the essays were entertaining/informative, but the "letters" section was a tedious challenge for me. ( )

A very excellent thought provoking series of essays. His observations on present society, literature, and dance were spot on. I often found myself agreeing with his dismay with various present day trends but then had to recognize some ruts of thought that I have fallen into myself. There were a couple of essays about some literature critics that I found less pertinent to my experience. ( )